


Only The Good Die Young

by SniperMoran



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abusive Father, Attack on Strippers AU, Character Deaths, Strippers & Strip Clubs, alcoholic mother, hints at underage blowjobs, strip club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 17:49:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SniperMoran/pseuds/SniperMoran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Erwin's story based in an AU created by someone else called Attack on Strippers.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Only The Good Die Young

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are not mine, but the idea for the AU belongs to someone else and this background story belongs to my imagination.  
> I'm so cruel to my characters...

Erwin had run away from home at a young age, not wanting to put up with the abuse from his parents. His mother was a drunk and his father was a bible thumping catholic and hated everything that Erwin was. He was a scrawny little shit back then. And to add salt to that wound, he was a gay scrawny little shit. He hadn't known that it was 'wrong' to like other boys, and find them attractive. He hadn't known that it was 'wrong' to have pin-ups of the attractive boys and men on his walls to stare at and idolize. He wanted to be like those beautiful men someday. Strong, muscular, handsome, well-liked. He didn't necessarily want to be a pin-up on some kids wall, but he wanted to be attractive.

His father finally started figuring it out when Erwin was about 10 and that's when the beatings started. Belts, hangers, shoes, whatever his father could find ready and available, he used it, but he hardly ever used his hands. He apparently didn't want to dirty them to that degree. And all the while, Erwin's mother did nothing about it, drinking away her troubles.

The turning point for young Erwin was when he came home and found his mother had drunken herself to death, or rather, that's what he had assumed happened. He couldn't take it. And he knew that his father would blame him for this and he'd be lucky if he survived, so before his father had a chance to come home and find this, Erwin packed up his stuff in his silly little backpack and ran away. He didn't know where he'd go, and he didn't exactly care, either. He just needed to get away from there, needed to get away from his father, his mother, and just everything. He needed to find somewhere where he could be himself.

He traveled on the road alone for a long time, not knowing where to go and just going where the road took him. He only had a small amount of money, and he quickly learned what happened to cute little boy hitchhikers that didn't have any money to pay for the rides he was accepting. Finding himself in New York with newly acquired talents, Erwin found a place that he could work. The club was called the Vermillion, and it was a high class strip club with bouncers and bodyguards and a fully stocked bar. Private rooms and music blaring. The owner of the place back then, Mike Z., was a kind man that took pity on Erwin and took him under his wing. He couldn't officially start stripping until he was 18, but Mike set him up with a job helping the boys in the back with their makeup and costumes. He even helped Mike with a few things in the office; filing, and cleaning and checking over the paperwork that Mike had finished. It was a good job, and Mike gave him a place to live on his couch until he could make his own way.

When Erwin turned 18, the Vermillion had a birthday party for their youngest staff member and the boys all chipped in to get Erwin a nice uniform to join them if he chose to do so. Having watched the other boys up on that stage for all the years he'd been working there, he had dreamed that he could fly like they did. Because that's what it looked like to him. They looked so free, and happy up on that stage. Flying and sparkling and being appreciated for who they were, no judgements. It was that sort of freedom that Erwin had always craved. So, accepting the uniform and informing Mike that he would be joining his staff of strippers, Erwin donned his stage name 'The Commander' and quickly became the highlight of the Vermillion. He was the most requested and he quickly became the opening performance for the best time slot.

And everything was wonderful for a long time.

The years went by and Erwin only got better at what he did, only got stronger and more agile in his movements and technique and it seemed like he would forever be the spotlight.

But dreams never did work out for Erwin for long...

The Vermillion happened to get involved in some turf war between rival mobs in the area, and members of both frequented the club. Things had been tense all over, and the club itself had been immune to the tenseness until one night. There had been a recent killing against the south side mob and it had been the son of the boss that had been killed in the gun fight. So that night, when members from the opposing mobs came to the Vermillion, a fight broke out. Mike got caught in the middle, trying to break it up and was stabbed and bled out before the ambulance could get to him, but Erwin wouldn't find that out until the next day.

When Mike went down, Erwin stepped in, trying to stop the fight, not wanting anyone else to get hurt. But of course, while he had grown stronger, he wasn't as strong as these men and he was quickly overpowered as well, injured in the attempt of stopping the fight. Eventually, police arrived on the scene and things were broken up. Mike and Erwin were rushed to the hospital where Erwin had to go through surgery in the ER to patch up his wounds and woke up later to the news that Mike hadn't made it. He had been pronounced DOA (dead on arrival) and there was nothing that could have been done.

Once Erwin was strong enough and healed enough to leave the hospital, he had a meeting with Mike's lawyer and was informed that Mike had left him everything. His old flat and the Vermillion. He hadn't had any children of his own, but he had always seen Erwin as his son and had left him a letter saying just that. Of course, the letter had assumed that Erwin would be much older at the time of Mike's passing, but being that he was 21 at this time, he was legally able to own the Vermillion and manage it, and he wouldn't turn that down. He couldn't strip himself anymore, his wounds had left him unable to do what he had been the best at, but he wouldn't close the place just because he was broken down.

A week after Mike's funeral, the Vermillion reopened, 'under new management' and costumers slowly trickled back in, disappointed at first when 'The Commander' was no longer the opening performance.

A few years after the reopening, Erwin came across a young man, a young man that reminded him very much of himself. He had fire in his eyes and a haunted look about him. Things had happened in his past that the older man was sure the young man didn't want to speak of, but it could be seen in his eyes, the look about him. He came to the club in the same hopes that Erwin had all those years ago: to get a job.

At first, Erwin put him on the same jobs Mike had put him on when he first joined. But eventually, he saw the exact same look in his eyes looking up at that stage that he had seen in himself. It was maybe a month later that Erwin called the young man, Levi, into his office and told him that he would like to have him be a stripper, if he would accept the job. Happy for the opportunity, the young man accepted in a heartbeat and quickly rose to the top, becoming the best and most requested of the other boys, most requested since Erwin's days. He had taken on the name 'The Corporal' and became the headline performance.

Erwin vowed that what happened to him would not happen again, that the Vermillion would not lose another manager and headline performer in some accident like it had in the past. He hired better bouncers, better staff, and he himself was constantly out on the floor, watching for trouble. If he spotted any, depending on the severity, the patrons would be given one warning before being kicked out, their IDs copied and taken down so they could never be allowed in the establishment again. The bouncers had a scanning system for IDs, and if an ID was in the system that they were banned, the scanner would turn red and beep, and the person would be asked to leave. If all was good and the ID wasn't in the system, the scanner would remain green. It also worked to stave off fake IDs and people trying to sneak in with them.

Erwin ran a tight ship at the Vermillion. It was his job to protect the boys that he put out there on that stage every-night, and he wasn't about to let them down. 

**Author's Note:**

> More to be added later? Maybe? Let me know if you'd like to hear more about Manager Erwin (or any of the other things, hit me up)  
> For reference, my OTP is Eruri (Erwin/Levi) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy your stay at the Vermillion, thank you for taking the time to read this.


End file.
